ROGER FEDERER: Greatness Unlimited

Advantage Tennis Grand Slam Yearbook 2019 6 R OGER FEDERER walked up to the net slowly, on the Miami centre-court. It was almost as if he wanted to give Thanasi Kokkinakis enough time to flash a smile and then roar into the crowd with both fists clenched. This was Federer’s 252nd career loss on the ATP circuit, so he knows the drill well. He was graceful in defeat, giving the young Australian a hug, a pat on the shoulder with a word of congratulations. The match had dragged on for two hours and 21 minutes, but within the next 30 seconds, the Swiss had packed his bag and humbly walked off court.

Kokkinakis’ celebration thereafter was justified. On paper, beating a 36-year-old should never be so difficult. It defies logic, especially since the sport is becoming increasingly brutal in its demands for physical conditioning.

But this was Roger Federer he had just beaten. A man, who even on days when he’s not hitting the ball well, when he’s almost human, is still a ‘monster.’

It’s a moniker the record 20- time Grand Slam champion had coined himself 10 years ago. On that occasion, he’d been upset in the semi-final of the 2008 Australian Open by an upcoming 20-year-old called Novak Djokovic.

“Of course, I’ve created a monster,” he’d say. “So I know I need to always win every tournament.”

That monster fell dormant, as Federer steadily faded after the high of Wimbledon 2012 – what many thought was his last major title. No longer was he the domineering force, as he’d be overtaken by his long-time rival Nadal, and then Djokovic, and Andy Murray too joined the race to the No. 1 spot. Stan Wawrinka would also stake his claim on three Grand Slams in the process. In January 2016 would come a cruel moment that would spark a crucial decision six months later. Federer slipped and hurt his knee while preparing a bath for one of his sets of twins. He’d gamble the readiness of his body by coming back too soon, and then crash out in the semi-final of Wimbledon. That was the last that was seen of him that year.

Those six months though gave back to him more than it took away. And when he returned to the circuit, at the Australian Open in 2017, he brought back the monster that had made him one of the most feared opponents.

At that point in time, he was a record 17-time Grand Slam champion and had spent a record 304 weeks as world No. 1 in a career that had started in 1998. He’d been there, done that, had nothing left to prove, and had no reason to continue to struggle on in the tour that can be lonely, frustrating, and even heartbreaking. But now Federer is finding joy in, quite simply, just playing tennis.

“I always tell people that when you watch Federer, don’t just watch him play the point. Watch what he does in between points,” former world No. 1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander once said. “He’s always fiddling with a tennis ball or with his racket, and he’s hitting an extra shot, trying some crazy drop shot when the point is over, or flicking the ball to a ball kid after a missed serve. Nobody else does that. Nobody has ever done that. And he still does it. Wimbledon final — it doesn’t matter. He just seems to enjoy the feeling of having the ball on his strings.”

Photo: Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc

FEDERER DEEPTI PATWARDHAN

In many ways, watching Federer practice exceeds the entertainment value of watching him compete. It is pure play and even more of an improv showcase. Every ball is lathered with gratuitous action, spin for spin’s sake, spin as slapstick, and ... luxuriantly massages every shot as if to prolong the moment of impact and better feel the racket head moving over the ball, string by string.

Peter De Jonge wrote in The New York Times

Photo: Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc

The genius on court though is a small exhibition of the workmanship off it. His practice sessions itself are a sight to see.

“In many ways, watching Federer practice exceeds the entertainment value of watching him compete. It is pure play and even more of an improv showcase,” Peter De Jonge wrote in The New York Times. “Every ball is lathered with gratuitous action, spin for spin’s sake, spin as slapstick, and unlike Nadal, who rips violently upward on his shots to impart an ungodly number of rotations per second to the ball, Federer luxuriantly massages every shot as if to prolong the moment of impact and better feel the racket head moving over the ball, string by string.”

There was something still missing though. After 17 majors by 2012, Federer needed to find the formula to what had been keeping him back against the rushing tide of younger players that had steadily been storming past him. He was still a prominent figure on the circuit, but for a player of his calibre, success is measured only in Grand Slam titles, and his tally had run dry.

A flaw though had soon been identified on the backhand side. And so in 2013, Federer roped in his idol Stefan Edberg, on whom he had modelled his own one-handed backhand, to work on that very shot. “The biggest improvement has been his backhand, the strength of the backhand,” Edberg said during a recent visit to Mumbai.

As glorious as his backhand slice was, there was a need for the Swiss to let loose, get on top and hammer down a one-handed topspin backhand shot (Federer makes that look beautiful too). But he needed an ally to give him confidence in playing that shot. He found it in a bigger racquet head.

“He wanted and he needed to make some changes, which was a very brave thing to do. One of the

crucial things was to switch racquets. He was already starting to talk about it but hadn’t made the decision one hundred percent,” said Edberg, who coached Federer for two years. “I was all for it. The equipment today is all different; it’s a racquet that will benefit him. Modern technology: more strength, easier power, that’s what you need to compete with the others. So it was a no-brainer for me.” The changes and improvements could only be tested once he got back on the tour. His first appearance after the injury layoff came at the 2017 Australian Open, when he was ranked 17th in the world.

“After seeing all those winners flying off his matte black racket in the Australian final, I figured that the backhand drive had been the focus of his six-month break from the tour last year,” De Jonge wrote. “Federer insisted that that wasn’t the case and that the primary focus during his layoff was a much humbler backhand, a subtle little block return of serve, hit as early as possible and with just a touch of topspin, that enabled him to start return points more advantageously than his chip or slice and that could be used against anyone except the biggest of servers.”

Steadily, he began picking away his opponents. Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka all fell by the wayside after Federer had dealt each an exhibition of finesse and aggression. All the while, he remained calm.

“The break, six months, getting away from tennis, not knowing whether you could get back to the tour again, at the same level. There’s a little bit of a different approach when you get back after a long injury, not too many expectations, whatever happens, happens, if I win fine. So maybe in the mind he was a little bit more relaxed,” Edberg added.

Nishikori and Wawrinka did stretch him to five sets, and so did Nadal in the marquee final (their first meeting in a Grand Slam final since the 2011 French Open). None could stop him from winning an 18th Slam.

In the coming weeks, he’d topple Nadal again, in the finals of both the Indian Wells and Miami Masters – the Sunshine Double. Federer was indeed back, and firing on all cylinders. And then he’d skip the entire clay court season to prepare himself for Wimbledon.

“In order to try and play on the ATP World Tour for many years to come, I feel it’s best to skip the claycourt season this year (2017) and prepare for the grass and hardcourt seasons,” he said on his Facebook page. “The start to the year has been magical for me but I need to recognize that scheduling will be the key to my longevity moving forward. Thus, my team and I concluded today that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season.”

Again, there was no way to prove if the strategy worked till he got to the Wimbledon Championships.

Like some in-born intuition, Federer floated seamlessly on the carefully manicured grass courts of Wimbledon. Armed with the bigger racquet head and a strong confidence in his backhand, he didn’t drop a single set enroute to winning a record eight Wimbledon title.

By the time 2018 came along, Federer was the world No. 2, and a stern favourite to defend his title. At his age though, he too found the expectations absurd.

“With age, I feel like I play down my chances just because I don’t think a 36-year-old should be a favourite of a tournament, it should not be the case,” he said. “That’s why I see things more relaxed, you know, at a later stage of my career.”

The monster was well and truly

The Federer family

back, he was expected to win. He played the same way too, winning each and every set till he reached the final against Marin Cilic. The towering Croat had only a few months earlier lost in the Wimbledon final to the Swiss but now had a chance to make amends. He stretched Federer to five sets, but there was a certain inevitability in the way Federer had been playing that past fortnight. In his 30th Grand Slam final, Federer would win his 20th.

Two weeks later, in Rotterdam, Federer became the oldest man – at 36 years and 195 days – to become world No. 1. It was a spot he occupied for the first time in six years, and 14 years apart from the first time he reached the summit in February 2004.

What makes the achievement even more impressive is that he did it despite missing the entire clay season.

He couldn’t hold onto the position for long this time. At the Indian Wells Masters, he lost out to Juan Martin Del Potro in the final. A week later, Kokkinakis dethroned him in Miami.

The result though did more Kokkinakis than for Federer.

“I’m happy for him that on the big stage he was able to show it, centre

court, Miami, with people watching him beating me, it’s a big result for him in his career. I hope it’s going to launch him,” Federer said in the postmatch press conference.

For now, that was the last time the world will see Federer. Until the grass court season.

He’s decided to avoid the grinding clay surfaces this year, focusing entirely on preparing for his beloved grass season. It was there after all, that he made his first stride to becoming the GOAT, when he won the Wimbledon title in 2003.

While he’s away, Nadal has come back into the picture, raking up the wins on the red dirt. Djokovic has been struggling to find form while Murray is still recovering from hip surgery.

Federer too has now taken a step away from the tour, where he’s won 1149 matches to the 252 losses. But it’s away from the circuit that has proven to be a period when he’s most dangerous. It’s a mental game now. His peers on tour know he’s going to come back, they know when he’s coming back, but they don’t know how much stronger he will be when the tour moves to grass. The oldest tennis surface is still Federer’s best canvas.